National Association of Social Workers Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service

NASW Encourages Mental Health Providers to Give an Hour to Serve Veterans

NASW joins the nation in honoring the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through a national day of service. In response to the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) conflicts, NASW encourages all licensed mental health providers to virtually sign up to volunteer their services through Give An Hour. The organization’s mission is to develop a national network of volunteers with the correct education and experience to meet the mental health needs of the troops and families affected by these engagements. The entire network of volunteers consists of social workers as well as all disciplines within the mental health community who provide treatment for anxiety, depression, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, sexual health and intimacy concerns, and loss and grieving.

The National Association of Social Workers encourages all licensed mental health providers with the expertise and available time commitment to serve our veterans and their loved ones, who may otherwise silently suffer from mental health challenges. Visit www.giveanhour.org on this important day of service and sign up to volunteer your time.

Give an Hour is a national nonprofit organization providing free counseling and other mental health services to members of the military, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and their loved ones.  Join the more than 4,500 mental health professionals who have already donated nearly 20,000 hours to make a difference in the lives of those who serve our country by donating an hour a week out of your practice. Visit www.giveanhour.org to learn more or to register as a provider.

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC), through scholarship and loan repayment programs, helps Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in the U.S. obtain a sufficient number of fully qualified medical, dental, and mental health providers essential to meet their populations’ critical need for safe and fundamental health care.

Purpose of the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program (NHSC LRP)

The purpose of the NHSC LRP is to ensure that an adequate supply of health professionals are available to provide primary health services to populations located in select Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), identified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. HPSAs can be found in rural and urban communities across the nation. The NHSC LRP recruits fully trained health professionals who agree to provide primary health services in NHSC community sites. In return, the NHSC LRP assists clinicians in their repayment of qualifying educational loans that are still outstanding.

Now accepting applications for Loan Repayment Awards. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act designated $200 million to fund the NHSC LRP. Applications will be accepted continuously until funds are expended or September 30, 2010, whichever comes first.

The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program provides $50,000 (or the outstanding balance of qualifying student loans, if less than $50,000), tax free, to medical, dental, and mental health clinicians in exchange for two years of service at approved sites in Health Professional Shortage Areas. Upon completion of the service commitment, clinicians may be eligible to apply for additional support for extended service. Most applications will be processed within eight weeks of the submission of a complete application (i.e., on-line application, supplemental paper forms, and required documentation).

The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program provides many benefits. Be sure you stay in compliance with the requirements of your in-service contract. Click here for a list of the in-service obligations.

National Health Service Corps loan repayment participants will be working under one of three types of assignments while serving their obligations. For more information about the Practice Assignments, click here.

Below are links to more information about the program and application process: (more…)

The August issue of Health & Social Work (Vol. 34, No. 3) covers a wide range of topics important to social work and social workers, with the “Viewpoint” feature article by Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1) on posttraumatic stress disorder. Below is a sampling of what’s inside the issue. Download the table of contents of the August Health & Social Work Journal here.

• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Government Initiatives to Relieve It
Carol Shea-Porter
The stressors inherent in military service in the current Iraq and Afghanistan theaters, compounded by multiple tours of duty and shrinking times between deployments, have created a mental health crisis among our military men and women—one that can be just as profound for veterans as it can be for active-duty troops. This article by Rep. Carol Shea-Porter(NH-1), member of the House Armed Services Committee, addresses what the armed services and U.S. government are doing to address this crisis—in particular the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder—and looks ahead to what more needs to be done.

• Parent Mentoring and Child Anticipatory Guidance with Latino and African American Families
Michaela L. Z. Farber
Poor child health and developmental outcomes are linked to scarcity of economic resources, barriers to health service delivery, and inadequate parenting. A preventive two-year parent mentoring project, theoretically anchored in the transactional model of child development, resulted in statistically-significant positive changes in parent and child outcomes for families receiving well-baby care at an urban primary health care center. In addition to numerous practical benefits, the intervention had implications for collaborative multidisciplinary practice.

• Sexuality and Life-Threatening Illness: Implications for Social Work and Palliative Care
John G. Cagle and Sage Bolte
Addressing sexuality with terminally ill patients and their families is frequently a social worker’s responsibility, yet little direction exists regarding how to approach this difficult subject in the context of palliative care. On the basis of a critical analysis of the literature on sexuality and terminal illness, this article addresses systemic barriers to the expression of sexuality in palliative care settings and provides numerous practical recommendations for social workers serving clients in such settings.

The Prevention Fellowship Program is a two-year program. Fellows receive a yearly stipend of up to $35,000, with a one-year option for renewal based on the previous year’s performance. Currently, there are 45 Fellows located in state, community, and local agencies throughout the U.S. and the Territories.

Fellows are placed in state offices or other designated locations and assigned to a mentor representative, who is usually the director of the agency. Together, these two develop a Fellows Accomplishment Plan that defines a core set of well-defined assignments with associated milestones, objectives, and outcomes.

Working closely with their mentor and other leading professionals in the prevention field, Fellows undertake projects that promote skills development and knowledge of state-of-the-art prevention practices. This direct, hands-on experience is reinforced by intensive online and in-person training that focuses on the following areas:

• Substance abuse prevention across the life span
• Community prevention planning and service delivery at the State and community level, including coalition building
• Data, evaluation, and alcohol, and drug epidemiology
• Environment prevention strategies, systems change, and service delivery
• Social marketing and substance abuse prevention

In addition to becoming aware of and building competencies in diverse areas of public health practice, Fellows have the opportunity to develop critical research, writing, evaluation, and presentation skills under a structured training program. Through participation in activities, field work, and training, Fellows forge a strong network of peers and public health and behavioral health professionals who can sustain their professional growth.

The Prevention Fellowship Program was created by SAMHSA in 2006 to build a workforce of highly competent prevention professionals who meet International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) standards. Certification indicates that individuals in the prevention field meet the highest standards of performance for the delivery of prevention services. To date, all Fellows who sat for the IC&RC exam have passed.

The Fellowship Program emphasizes SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework, a national strategy for prevention planning, program development, and prevention service delivery. Fellows also are exposed to other public health models in prevention service delivery, including the “Continuum of Care.”

Applications for this class of Fellows are due September 11, 2009, 5:00 PM (EST). Before applying, please refer to the eligibility requirements. Then, fill out the online application, include a one-page personal essay, and provide two letters of reference electronically by September 11, 2009, 5:00 PM (EST).

Legislation

The Energy and Commerce Committee reached a deal on America’s Affordable Health Choice Act of 2009, H.R. 3200. The Ways and Means Committee and Education and Labor Committee had already reported the bill out of committee. On the Senate side, the Senate Finance Committee has six members meeting to reconcile differences.

Legislative Climate

With the House in recess and the Senate headed out on Aug. 7, the nature of the health care reform discussion has shifted.  Rather than worrying about legislative minutiae that can’t be resolved until September, both parties are now focused on how to explain the issue once they’re back home in their respective districts and states.  On one hand, both Democrats and Republicans need a narrative that is simple enough to understand, but not so simple that it insults voters’ intelligence and oversimplifies a complex issue.

President Obama has travel plans throughout the West to sell his understanding of recent developments.  Meanwhile, Democrats of every stripe (progressive, conservative Blue Dogs, and others) will be sharing their experiences with voters, while Republicans face the challenge of explaining to voters why Democrat-driven reform constitutes a needless and expensive government takeover.

Meetings Attended

NASW has attended several meetings on health care reform over the past week, including:

• Alliance for Health Reform briefing on Financing Health Care Reform.
• Families USA field organizing meetings.
• Meeting with representatives of non-medical professions concerned with coverage requirements in health care reform.

· Conference call with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and Mary Wakefield, Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) regarding new funding for health care professions training.  See http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/07/20090728c.html for the press release.

Conference call with Tina Tchen, White House Office of Public Engagement and with Christina Romer, Chair, Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) regarding  small business and health care reform.  See http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Weekly-Address-Health-Insurance-Reform-Small-Business-and-Your-Questions/ for a video by the President, as well as links to the findings in the report.

• Meeting with Dr. Mary Wakefield, Administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and additional HRSA staff on areas of mutual interest regarding the health care professions.  Dr. Wakefield expressed support for the importance of social workers in health care.

Letters

• NASW sent a letter of support for H.R. 3200 to Speaker Pelosi, Chairmen Waxman, Miller and Rangel.

Resources

Families USA has an August Recess Tool Kit available on their Web site for outreach efforts to members of Congress during the August recess. It’s a one-stop shop of tools and resources to help you galvanize your communities around the message that health reform cannot wait.

For ongoing information, please visit our health care page.

Keep up with the latest from NASW on Facebook, Twitter, and the NASW Advocacy Blog.  We want your feedback:  post to the Wall and leave your comments on the blog.

The White House has posted eight benefits of Health Insurance Reform and asked people to comment on them.  You can go to the Slide Share Web page and comment on them.

The White House Council of Economic Advisors released a report about the Economic Effects of Health Care Reform on Small Businesses and their Employees.

The United States has been at war for more than eight years, with Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan beginning in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. During this time, more than 1.5 million troops have been deployed to serve in these wars.

Social workers continue to play an important role in the lives of veterans both during and after wartime. This fact sheet highlights some of the key considerations and concerns regarding social work services and veterans’ issues

Carole Bowdry, social worker who confronted child abuse, dies at 71
“Carole Bowdry spent most of her career confronting a problem that some people would rather have just ignored: child abuse.”
Dallas Morning News

Social workers, psychologists to aid religious courts in divorce
“Social workers and psychologists could soon become an integral part of the country’s religious legal system, with the goal of streamlining and improving the divorce process, The Jerusalem Post was told last week.”
The Jerusalem Post

Mental-health stigma persists
By Peg Leonard-Martin, M.Div., LCSW, Director of counseling services at Belmont University.
Tennessean.com

Child Advocacy Center: Parents must overcome fear to watch for signs of abuse
By Shannon Yockey, a licensed clinical social worker at the Larimer County Advocacy Center
Coloradoan.com

Source: Google News
The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Association of Social Workers or its members.

Blogger Baby Hoax Writer Beccah Beushausen is NOT a professional social worker.  Social workers say she is a young woman in pain who needs professional help with her grief.

In response to a June 12 article in the Chicago Tribune and a related Associated Press story about “April’s Mom”,  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-baby-hoax-12jun12,0,5601624.story, the National Association of Social Workers has confirmed that the troubled young woman who created a huge online following with a fictitious account of her pregnancy IS NOT A SOCIAL WORKER.   According to sources at the NASW Illinois Chapter, Beccah Beushausen is not licensed in the State of Illinois as a social worker and is not a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

The NASW Illinois Chapter has contacted the Chicago Tribune to ask that the paper run a correction.  If you would like to encourage the Tribune’s editors to publish a correction, please send an e-mail to kijanssen@tribune.com or submit comments to http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-lettertotheeditor,0,3578487.customform.

You can also post comments to the Tribune Web site at http://www.topix.net/forum/source/chicago-tribune.

The organization provides mental health services separate from the military establishment.

By Heidi Sfiligoj, NASW News Staff

NASW has endorsed Give an Hour, a national nonprofit grassroots organization with the goal of creating a national network of licensed mental health professionals who can offer free mental health services to military personnel and their families.

NASW first announced its endorsement of Give an Hour in the July issue of the NASW News, but joined the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Association of Pastoral Counselors at the Reserve Officers Association on Nov. 10 in Washington, D.C., to show support for the effort. The event took place prior to Veterans Day as a way to honor the service of the nation’s military members and their families.

“NASW is proud to endorse the Give an Hour program and is committed to increasing the number of social workers who volunteer to help mitigate the impact of war on our nation’s families and communities,” said NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark.

Mental health professionals who join the Give an Hour network set aside one hour of their time every week to provide the services for free.

“Need has outpaced resources, which is why Give an Hour is so important,” said Clark. “It allows licensed mental health professionals from multiple disciplines to be a part of a community service movement that can close the gaps public funding cannot. We are honored to work side-by-side with our allies in the fields of psychology, psychiatry and pastoral counseling to serve those who served us all with such dignity and courage.” (more…)